Would you like some OCD advice from an ancient Roman Emperor? If so, here it is. From The Daily Stoic Instagram message for the day: "You always own the option of having no opinion. There is never any need to get worked up or to trouble your soul about things you can't control. These things are not asking to be judged by you. Leave them alone." - Marcus Aureliius

I thought you might like it ☺.

@con For you, do you ever get thoughts about females? Do you ever hear a "voice" or thought in your head saying "What do you think/feel about her?"?

@con Unfortunately, you can't control your thoughts. But you do have control over whether you assign value or judgement of them.

@Ben84 This seems too scary to believe.. i feel like they need rectifying

@con Maybe they're not even "bull". Maybe they just "are" ☺.

@Coul.C It's okay to be scared. Hopefully, I've planted a seed. Now it's time to water it ?!

@con You're welcome! I once spent 4 days in a psych ward. What motivated me to be able to leave was to be able to share my experiences. Especially with young people like yourself. Helping you has brought me joy ?.

It does work pretty well for OCD! I'll have to put Letters to Lucilius on my radar. Do you follow Stoic accounts on Instagram to get daily quotes and such?

There's quite a bit of ancient wisdom out there that speaks to OCD. I hope to post more over time.

@Ben84 Please do. You enjoy history?

@Alyosha Yes I do ☺. How about you?

@Ben84 I earned my master’s in US history. Aaaaand now I clean houses. Had a bit of a crisis. Got myself in a menta maze. Trying to get back into a more fulfilling job.

@Alyosha I particularly like learning about Lincoln. He had bouts of mental illness too as outlined in the book "Lincoln's Melancholy by Joshua Wolf Schenk. When I was in my last year of elementary education study I too had a mental health crisis. Failed some classes. I eventually got my degree. I'm not a classroom teacher, but an aide.

@Ben84 I love Lincoln. I’m sorry. That sounds hard. Do you enjoy being an aide? What would you like to be doing? I had *just* earned my master’s four months earlier. In the middle of applying for positions, I worried that every job was wrong to have and made God angry somehow. I couldn’t even work at a grocery store. Had to quit volunteering. Was in the middle of writing and trying to figure out how to publish a piece of my art. It all came to a horrific screeching halt. I’m still so stuck.

@Alyosha Being an aide is fine. The person I work for is great. She even drove me 45 mins. to the psych ward when I had a breakdown at work and then picked me up 4 days later. I'd like to be a librarian at our school. The pay would be pretty much the same, but it would suit my talents better. I'm sorry you're still stuck. I hope you can keep pushing through and find contentment regardless of what you wind up doing ☺.

@Ben84 Wow! That’s an awesome boss! I worked at a library. First children’s department, and then my grad internship was in a university library’s archives.

@Alyosha And thanks ?

@Alyosha Sometimes there's nothing for me to do and they let me shelve books in the library. On occasion the librarian is really gracious and lets me read to the kids ?.

I think I understand what you're asking. When I have a sexually intrusive thought about an under age girl I don't have to say "That's bad". I can just let it be knowing that simply thinking it won't cause it to come true. Does that make sense ☺? If so, how can you apply it to yourself?